Can a policy be considered "legislation"?

[TillyTottenham]

I'm writing a statement in support of a court claim. Is it correct to refer to a local government (Council) policy as "legislation"?

The context will be something like: "In order to comply with current legislation, the proposed charge will be X."

The "legislation" in question is a Council policy that states the maximum amount that can be charged for the service in question.

(Thanks in advance if anyone knows!)

Sometimes policy is based on legislation, sometimes it is guidance. Really depends on what the specifics are.
If you aren't sure, just say "in accordance with LA policy as set out in ..."

Surely you should just use the phrase 'council policy'?
Legislation means law.
Policy is not law, it is just the way someone has decided to do things (which of course has to be legal, but may not be a legal requirement.)

Thanks. I thought legislation would sound more impressive.

I think this one is a legal requirement. It's a planning policy I'm referring to.

Depends if the requirement you're referring to is based in law, in which case you can say legislation, if it's policy (ie something just that particular council endorses rather than the State requires) don't use legislation. Legislation would obviously be the more powerful word assuming it was factually correct and indeed stated in law.

If you use legislation when it is only policy, you risk undermining yourself, as if there is one embellishment, the court may wonder what else is too.

Thanks all! I will use Catmummy's wording.

Legislation is law that is passed by Parliament (as opposed to e.g. case law). A policy is not law. I wouldn't use PP wording unless you know the policy is based on a legislative requirement.

The most important thing is to use accurate words not ones that sound good.

The most important thing is to use accurate words not ones that sound good.

This.

Please don’t tie yourself up in legalese. You’ll end up sounding very silly.

Stick with straightforward wording that you can elaborate on easily, if you need to.

It's very confusing. I don't want to sound silly.

Keep it as factual and to-the-point as possible.

If you try to make it sound clever or impressive it usually has the opposite effect.

Start by writing out bullet points of what you actually want/need to say, then fill each one out with a small, succinct paragraph.

(My suggestion, for what it’s worth🙂)

@TillyTottenham

It's very confusing. I don't want to sound silly.

It's not that confusing surely. If the policy is there due to legislation then use that word. If it's not, don't.

Whatever you do don't use words simply because they sound impressive. Unless you want to lose your job and end up in court.

I just checked on the government planning portal, and it says:

"Planning Policy is supported by legislation, this mainly takes the form of Acts of Parliament and Statutory Instruments…"

So Catmummy's wording is accurate but I wanted to say the policy itself is legislation, which it isn't.

Thanks all for your input. Glad to get that cleared up.

In a legal document you should never say "legislation" without clarifying which act/regulations you mean.

Thank you JesusMary.
It's for small claims court, so as you can see I have no idea what I'm doing.
I could say "policy xxx of such-and-such council".

What @JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon said. Legislation means a law, and you’re talking about policy, which isn’t law even if it’s based on what the law says. You should never say something is the law when it isn’t. Catmummy’s wording does the job.

policy isn’t law even if it’s based on what the law says

Gotcha. Thanks.

Planning policy isn't law. The legislation is the planning law that gives the local authority the power to make the policy and sets out how it must do it, eg timescales, bodies that must be consulted etc.

In a previous life, I was clerk to the planning committees in 3 different councils. Planning officers themselves often don't understand the difference between law and policy!